# The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 7, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070 "2016-12-07T00:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1126
**Author:** ![SaneBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SaneBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaneBill)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22505 "2018-07-06T12:38:02Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Can anyone answer this: How, specifically, will the China trade war make money for President PantsOnHead personally? > > IOW what’s in it financially for him? Probably something like [this](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/15/17355202/trump-zte-indonesia-lido-city). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22506 "2018-07-06T12:39:08Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Can anyone answer this: How, specifically, will the China trade war make money for President PantsOnHead personally? > > IOW what’s in it financially for him? It’s the Underpants Gnomes business model: 1. Start pointless trade war. 2. ??? 3. PROFIT!!! 4. might well be “Go short on all the industries that Trump has just adversely affected by this stupid trade war, but get carve-outs for any areas that might affect businesses he actually owns”. But that would imply the existence of a plan. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22507 "2018-07-06T13:27:33Z")
Thanks, y’all. 'Cause we know there has to be financial gain at the bottom of it. If thump were offered Emperorship of the World and all the Nobel Prizes there are, but had to be poor, he’d say no thanks. I don’t even think he cares about immigration or white supremacy except insofar as he can turn those associations into profit for himself. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22508 "2018-07-06T13:32:58Z")
WaPo has it. > [@](#): > > As the Trump administration initiates a possible trade war with China, the president’s businesses continue to benefit from partnerships involving the Chinese government, via state-backed companies and investors. > > Chinese government-backed firms are slated to work on parts of two large developments — in Dubai and Indonesia — that will include Trump-branded properties. > > The Trumps are the landlord to one of China’s top state-owned banks, which has occupied the 20th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan since 2008. The bank’s lease is worth close to $2million annually, according to industry estimates and a bank filing. > > And despite the Trump administration’s focus on American manufacturing, assembly-line workers in China still produce blouses, shoes and handbags for the clothing line created by Trump’s daughter Ivanka, a White House adviser. > … > [Cite](https://wapo.st/2zgqGaO) ---
**Author:** ![SaneBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SaneBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaneBill)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22509 "2018-07-06T13:35:33Z")
[JOBS !](https://www.buzzfeed.com/jsvine/trumps-mar-a-lago-wants-to-hire-40-more-foreign-workers?utm_term=.wxAPb4dym6#.wy1l7yNA0Z) ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22510 "2018-07-06T14:50:55Z")
Trump is clearly indebted to Russian oligarchs - Trump’s just doing what Putin tells him to. If he doesn’t, he and his financial ‘empire’ (house of cards) will collapse and he probably takes up residence in federal prison. It’s beyond obvious that almost every major foreign policy maneuver he has been to Putin’s benefit and our country’s detriment. Trump probably sees no real harm done because he possesses no understanding at all of economics, business, or international trade. He understands finance in terms of how to raise money and how to find suckers. Trump is a gangster capitalist who obviously finds himself comfortable in the presence of other gangsters. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22511 "2018-07-06T16:17:39Z")
Rant from his rally last night. You have to assume that his fans are brain-damaged to hear this and not wonder what is wrong with him. > **[Trump Goes on Nonsensical Rant About Elton John, Organs and ‘the Brain’](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-goes-on-nonsensical-rant-about-elton-john-organs-and-the-brain/)** > > President Donald Trump held a rally in Montana on Thursday night, and rambled for more than an hour about everything from ICE to tax reform to... Elton John. > [@](#): > > “I have broken more Elton John records, he seems to have a lot of records. And I, by the way, I don’t have a musical instrument. I don’t have a guitar or an organ. No organ. Elton has an organ. And lots of other people helping. No we’ve broken a lot of records. We’ve broken virtually every record. Because you know, look I only need this space. They need much more room. For basketball, for hockey and all of the sports, they need a lot of room. We don’t need it. We have people in that space. So we break all of these records. Really we do it without like, the musical instruments. This is the only musical: the mouth. And hopefully the brain attached to the mouth. Right? The brain, more important than the mouth, is the brain. The brain is much more important.” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22512 "2018-07-06T16:33:36Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Rant from his rally last night. You have to assume that his fans are brain-damaged to hear this and not wonder what is wrong with him. > > [Trump Goes on Nonsensical Rant About Elton John, Organs and ‘the Brain’](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-goes-on-nonsensical-rant-about-elton-john-organs-and-the-brain/) :eek:😕 O good lord, what the holy hell is going on in that man’s cranium? I’ll see if I can translate: My events draw more people than Elton John does in the same venue. And it’s significant that I can draw people without the benefit of performing on a musical instrument. And my events fill space that, for other performing artists, would be taken up with infrastructure. And Elton John plays the organ. And the brain is an organ. And the mouth is not a musical instrument. It all ties together! ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22513 "2018-07-06T16:35:16Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Rant from his rally last night. You have to assume that his fans are brain-damaged to hear this and not wonder what is wrong with him. > > [Trump Goes on Nonsensical Rant About Elton John, Organs and ‘the Brain’](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-goes-on-nonsensical-rant-about-elton-john-organs-and-the-brain/) Good God, that is a word salad, a word frappe. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22514 "2018-07-06T16:55:35Z")
Elton has an organ? Was that ever in question? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22515 "2018-07-06T17:13:42Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Elton has an organ? Was that ever in question? > 😃 But apparently Trump admits he doesn’t have one. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22516 "2018-07-06T17:22:05Z")
Sometimes when the Trumpian word salad becomes too much, I like to listen to [two minutes at-random](https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000003767801/obama-delivers-eulogy-in-charleston.html) and take a deep, \*deeeeep \*breath. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22517 "2018-07-06T17:28:01Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Rant from his rally last night. You have to assume that his fans are brain-damaged to hear this and not wonder what is wrong with him. > > [Trump Goes on Nonsensical Rant About Elton John, Organs and ‘the Brain’](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-goes-on-nonsensical-rant-about-elton-john-organs-and-the-brain/) Holy shit! ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22518 "2018-07-06T17:30:43Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > WaPo has it. [Chinese company producing Trump 2020 flags despite looming trade war](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/05/politics/china-trade-trump-2020-flags/index.html) I guess its too much to ask the ‘buy american’ guy to actually buy american made flags for his presidential campaign? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22519 "2018-07-06T17:45:16Z")
Former Fox News reporter Charles Gasparino: “Just heard @POTUS at this rally complaining about the use of anonymous sources. For the record he was one of mine over the years.” > ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22520 "2018-07-06T17:47:00Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Holy shit! “and they never say I’m a great speaker…” ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22521 "2018-07-06T17:49:57Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Rant from his rally last night. You have to assume that his fans are brain-damaged to hear this and not wonder what is wrong with him. > > [Trump Goes on Nonsensical Rant About Elton John, Organs and ‘the Brain’](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-goes-on-nonsensical-rant-about-elton-john-organs-and-the-brain/) What is this I don’t even ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22522 "2018-07-06T18:14:59Z")
> [@simster](#): > > [Chinese company producing Trump 2020 flags despite looming trade war](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/05/politics/china-trade-trump-2020-flags/index.html) > > I guess its too much to ask the ‘buy american’ guy to actually buy american made flags for his presidential campaign? I bet Ivanka’s and his clothing line (made in China) is still doing fine too … especially since he made sure it was made exempt from tariffs (“Donald J. Trump signature collection”). ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22523 "2018-07-06T18:16:20Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > More good news: [California sanctuary law upheld in federal court.](https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Trump-administration-loses-most-of-challenge-to-13051813.php?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&utm_campaign=sfc_politics) Good. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070/22524 "2018-07-06T18:17:26Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > This source says that the IG office investigations WILL continue: > > [x.com](https://twitter.com/rebleber/status/1014979218080452608) Good. I hope they crucify him. And I hope he drags many more down with him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1125) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-a-clusterfuck-in-the-making/774070.md?page=1127)